Police were first alerted to the rampage when they began receiving emergency calls from the school at 1455 (2055 GMT) on Monday.

Weise first used a .22-calibre weapon to kill his grandfather, veteran police sergeant Daryl Lussier and his companion Michelle Sigana, at their home on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, FBI special agent Michael Tadman told reporters.

RED LAKE VICTIMS

Daryl Lussier, 58, Jeff Weise's grandfather

Michelle Sigana, 32, Daryl Lussier's partner

Alicia Spike, 14, student

Thurlene Stillday, 15, student

Chase Lussier, 15, student

Chanelle Rosebear, 15, student

Dwayne Lewis, 15, student

Derrick Brun, 28, security guard

Neva Winnecoup Rogers, 62, teacher

He then stole his grandfather's police gunbelt and bullet-proof vest, and at least another two weapons - a handgun and a shotgun - before driving to the school in his grandfather's police car.

He drove right up to the school's entrance and there shot dead 28-year-old security guard Derrick Brun who was unarmed.

Weise walked through the front entrance's metal detector and down the hallway to a classroom, where he fired at pupils, before chasing them into a room and killing five of them and a female teacher named as Neva Winnecoup Rogers, 62.

When the police arrived, a gun battle with the boy ensued before he retreated to the classroom where he shot himself through the head.

Mr Tadman said the crime scene was extensive and that gunshots were found all over the school.

'Headshots'

North Country Regional Hospital in Bemidji received six casualties, one of whom died.

US SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

April 2003: Teenager shoots dead headteacher, then kills himself, at Pennsylvania school

April 1999: Two teenagers shoot dead 12 pupils and a teacher, then kill themselves at Columbine School, Colorado

May 1998: Fifteen-year-old shoots dead two pupils in a school cafeteria in Oregon

March 1998: Two boys, aged 11 and 13, kill four girls and a teacher in Arkansas

October 1997: Teenager stabs mother, then shoots dead two pupils at a school in Mississippi